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Thinking and Feeling; Feeling and Thinking

Tullian Tchividjian

William Graham Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin) is the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A Florida native, Tullian is also the grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a contributing editor to Leadership Journal.
A graduate of Columbia International University (philosophy) and Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando (M.Div.), Tullian has authored a number of books including Jesus + Nothing = Everything (Crossway). He travels extensively, speaking at conferences throughout the U.S., and his sermons are broadcast daily on the radio program LIBERATE. As a respected pastor, author, and speaker, Tullian is singularly and passionately devoted to seeing people set free by the radical, amazing power of God's grace.
When he is not reading, studying, preaching, or writing, Tullian enjoys being with people and relaxing with his wife, Kim, and their three children—Gabe, Nate, and Genna. He loves the beach, loves to exercise, and when he has time, he loves to surf.

2009Feb 02

Comments

I’ve been going through some of my old New City files–things I wrote about our mission and vision (who we were going to be and why) when I was starting the church 5 1/2 years ago. I was hugely encouraged to discover that we haven’t veered off track. That, in fact, we have become what I hoped and prayed 5 1/2 years ago we would become. God has been and continues to be very good and gracious to us. Over the next few days I’ll be posting some of the things I wrote back then. Here’s the first:

New City has never tried to be something or do something that no other church has ever tried to be or do. Realizing that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9) we do not make it our aim to be innovative. Stylistically, however, there is a need in the Body of Christ today which, by God’s grace, we are seeking to meet.

In our estimation, it is unfortunate that there are churches today who attempt to do “thinking” well but who do “feeling” poorly, while there are other churches who attempt to do “feeling” well but who do “thinking” poorly. New City sees this polarizing trend as a weakness in the Body of Christ, not a strength.

Believing that God has equipped Christian’s with both a head and a heart, intellectual capacities along with emotional capacities, we understand that no one can feel rightly about God without thinking rightly about God. On the other hand, we also believe no one can think rightly about God without feeling rightly about God. Therefore, we are seeking, in everything we do, to combine gravity and gladness, depth and delight, doctrine and devotion, precept and passion, truth and love (Matt. 22:37; John 4:23-24; 1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 4:15). We want to be a community that glorifies God in the way that we think and the way that we feel. We strive to be a church that thinks and feels theologically while seeking to avoid both intellectualism and emotionalism.